About the work
Artaserse is an opera seria in three acts by Leonardo Vinci to a libretto by Pietro Metastasio, his first for the stage. It premiered on 4 February 1730 at the Teatro delle Dame in Rome, with an all-male cast of castrati required by the papal ban on female performers. It was Vinci's last completed opera; he died in Naples a few months later.
Plot
After the murder of the Persian king Serse, his son Artaserse is caught between conflicting loyalties: the actual killer, Artabano, is the father of Artaserse's closest friend Arbace, who is wrongly suspected of the crime. Arbace stays silent to protect his father, is condemned to death, and is saved only at the last moment when the truth comes out; Artaserse pardons him and ascends the throne.
Cultural significance
As the first setting of Metastasio's most frequently composed libretto (over 90 settings), Vinci's Artaserse helped shape the conventions of opera seria. A 2012 production with five countertenors under Diego Fasolis brought the long-forgotten work back into the international repertoire.